This week, most Chinese HRC mills have decided to maintain HRC export offers at high levels, and some have even gone higher, despite price fluctuations in the local market. At the same time, the tradable level for ex-China materials has been maintained stable at a high level as well, though some offers at much lower than mills’ price levels have been heard in the market, for ex-Anfeng HRC or from traders dealing within the scope of a non-VAT trading policy.
At present, export offers for boron-added SS400 HRC given by major Chinese mills are at $665-575/mt FOB for mainly April shipment, with a midpoint at $670/mt FOB, up by $5/mt week on week. “Even though there has been some imbalance locally, most Chinese mills are still cautiously optimistic, as bullishness keeps mounting globally, especially in the distant markets,” a market insider said.
At the same time, the tradable level for ex-China SS400 HRC has been assessed at $620-650/mt FOB, the same as last week. The lower end of the range corresponds to ex-Anfeng Steel SS400 HRC in Vietnam, voiced at $630-635/mt CFR, though other ex-China SS400 offers have been heard at $650/mt CFR and above levels, versus $640-650/mt CFR last week. Offers from Chinese suppliers to Pakistan have been heard at $665-670/mt CFR, compared to $670-675/mt CFR last week. Meanwhile, according to sources, after several deals for small ex-China SS400 batches were reported to Bangladesh at $685/mt CFR, another deal for around 10,000 mt of ex-China materials has been signed at $695/mt CFR this week.
In the meantime, ex-China Q195 and SS400 offers have been reported at around $700-710/mt CFR Turkey. However, no deals have been heard so far although ex-China offers are considered to be the lowest among offers from all foreign suppliers. Offers to the Middle East have been voiced at around $690-700/mt CFR, the same as last week.
Notably, according to market insiders, non-VAT trading has been one of the main reasons for the lower offers heard from traders compared to the mills’ official quotes. “We hear the non-VAT trading by traders has gathered momentum, but this behavior is destroying the market prices, as the average price difference is about six percent,” a market insider told SteelOrbis.
In the SAE1006 segment, after at least 20,000 mt of ex-China materials were sold to Vietnam at $670-675/mt CFR last week, new offers have been heard at $680-690/mt CFR, with a few small deals reported to have been signed at $680/mt CFR this week, according to sources. Besides, offers to Pakistan have been voiced at around $700/mt CFR, up by $15/mt week on week. Meanwhile, ex-China offers to South America have been voiced at $690-715/mt CFR Pacific Coast and around $710-720/mt CFR Brazil, according to market insiders.
